A Mission to New York
by GallagherGirl11
Summary: Zach and Cammie are assigned to a mission together after they have both graduated from Gallagher. Lots of Zach/Cammie! Review, please! ;D
1. Chapter 1

I, Cammie Morgan, was one of the youngest members of the CIA. Bex had gone to work at MI6, Liz was cracking codes for NASA, and Macey was the only one who was with me at CIA, but she was older than me. I knew that Bex and Macey had both been on exciting missions, and that Liz had cracked some world-changing codes, but I had yet to go on a great mission. That day, I was sitting in my office, going through paperwork, when my name was called to go to the Director's office. Hoping I had finally gotten my break, I walked towards his office as fast as I could without looking like a total loser rookie.

I greeted him in his office, and sat down. He didn't say anything, so I waited impatiently. 3.4 seconds later, someone else came into his office. "Sorry I'm late," the tall newcomer breathed. I didn't turn around, despite the fact that I knew that voice all too well. I hadn't seen him since my last year at Gallagher, six months ago. After we got jobs, I assumed he was a mission, doing something a lot more fun than what I was stuck with.

"Sit, Agent Goode." The Director told Zach. He looked at both of us sternly. "I have gone through your records, and it seems that you too are the only ones capable for the mission I am about to give you. You are both the best young pavement artists this agency has ever seen, and, you have the added benefit of knowing each other and working well together." The Director glared at us. "You DO know each other well, am I right?"

Zach smirked and nodded. I rolled my eyes. This would be interesting. The Director handed us our mission files and told us that we would be leaving by plane the next morning at 4AM. 4AM? Seriously? I didn't show my disbelief as I walked out of the office, clutching the mission file to my chest. This was my chance to go on an amazing mission! Zach caught up to me and pulled me back.

"Gallagher Girl, meet me at my apartment at 2AM tomorrow, okay?" He whispered, brushing past me. I was about to point out that I didn't know where he lived until I noticed a piece of paper in my skirt pocket. I sighed. Of course…the brush pass was one of Zach's favourite ways to annoy me. I should have guessed.

I left the agency, gathering my things. I didn't have anyone to say goodbye to, because Macey was already on another mission, and the other girls were halfway across the world anyway. So, I went back to my apartment and read the mission file. My cover was a 24 year old (I know, a bit older than I was, but I could pull it off) woman named Nathalie or Nat St. Claire, engaged to a Damon Jones. Damon Jones? What a horrible cover name for Zach, I thought. Wait….I was ENGAGED TO ZACH? Oh God.

Our mission goal was to tail three people in hopes of collecting all the information we could about them, and preventing them from the doing the disaster they were planning on. It was a little vague, but I was happy that I was finally going on a mission, so I didn't care too much about the details. I packed some clothes that were appropriate for our destination, New York, and tried to get a couple of hours of sleep before I had to meet Zach.

My alarm woke me up two hours later, at 1:30AM. Luckily, Zach's apartment was close, so I could take a cab. I showered, got dressed, and took my stuff down to the lobby of my apartment building, flagging down the only passing cab and getting in. I was at Zach's apartment at 1:58AM. Unfortunately for me, his elevator was broken, so I got to lug my suitcase up the stairs to the seventh floor, where his apartment was. When I was halfway up, I heard two people in the stairwell. One was coming up behind me and the other was creeping around the corner in front of me. I swung my suitcase around (à la Macey) and knocked out the guy behind me, sending him flying down the stairs. The guy in front of me was stronger, so I had the fight and kick him hard to get the upper hand. Soon enough, he made a mistake, and I managed to crawl under him until I was above him on the stairs. I kicked him down with all the force I could muster, and ran up the stairs as fast as I could to Zach's room.

I knocked on the door, trying to look casual and stay quiet so as not to creep out his neighbours. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the guys had recovered quickly, and was looking down the hallway to see where I'd gone. I knocked on Zach's door again, and this time he opened it. The goon was getting closer down the hall, so I threw myself into Zach's arms, startling him, until I whispered "Tail, three o'clock. Turn now," Into his ear. He spun me around, so that I was in his room, and he was shielding me from the field of vision of the guy outside. Zach closed the door quickly, putting me down and tossing my suitcase to me.

"Thanks," I panted, out of breath.

"No problem." He muttered, but he looked distracted, trying to hear if the guy was still outside.

"What happened, Cam?" He asked, turning his attention on me.

"Broken elevator, two guys in the stairwell, fought them, followed me, potentially from COC? " I still couldn't talk normally, because I was out of breath, but Zach knew me well enough to understand.

"No, they aren't from the Circle. Just some creeps, I think. You okay?" He asked, tossing me a water bottle.

I drank half of it in two gulps and nodded. "Yeah, thanks." I tossed the water bottle back to him, and he drank the rest just as quickly as I had. I stood up. "Ready?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but let's not leave yet. We have a bit of time, and I want to make sure those goons are gone. Sit down." He motioned to the couch.

I did, and while I thought his back was turned, I tried to fix my hair so it looked slightly less like an animal. Fighting two guys in a stairwell does not do good things to your hair. Zach was looking out the peephole in his door, and he deemed it safe to go. He grabbed his suitcase and I grabbed mine, and we walked down the stairs to the parking lot outside. He stopped in front of a sleek, black car that I didn't know the name of.

"Nice car." I mumbled, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Come on, Gallagher Girl, you don't even know what kind it is." Zach smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes. This was just like the old days. We got into the car and he started driving. I asked him where he'd been since Gallagher, and he told me as much about his mission as he could, but he enjoyed annoying me by telling me what was classified and making sure I knew he would never tell me.

We got to the airport about an hour later, and when he parked his car, he pulled out a ring. I looked at him, confused, until he said: "It's for the mission, remember, Gallagher Girl?" he smirked at me. I rolled my eyes and put it on, saying: "Thank you…Damon." In the most lovey-dovey voice I could muster. He grimaced. "I hate that name." He grumbled.

We got through security pretty quickly, since it was like, 3AM, and we boarded the plane a half hour later. I was glad our seats were the only ones in our row, and I immediately snagged the window seat while he was putting his luggage in the overhead bin. Finally, we took off, and after the seatbelt sign turned off, I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned against the window, trying to get some sleep. It didn't really work, because every time I tried to move, I would either hit head, or bump into Zach, something I was trying to avoid. After 45 minutes of that discomfort, I looked at Zach, who was laughing at me. I rolled my eyes .I pointed to the lowered armrest and asked: "Can I…?" He nodded, still laughing at me, while I raised the armrest and gave myself a bit more room. I soon fell asleep against something hard but warm, and I was too tired to even care what it was.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up a few hours later with my head on Zach's shoulder, to find him playing with my hair. I was still pretty tired, so when I whispered: "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you," to Zach, he laughed because I must've sounded almost drunk.

"That's okay." He said, smirking at my messed up hair and make-up. I stretched, and then got off him to try to go to the washroom. He wouldn't get up, so I had to practically climb over him. When I got the washroom, I shuddered at what I saw in the mirror. I looked awful. I cleaned up as best as I could in the tiny space and walked back to Zach. Again, he wouldn't let me pass, this time he went was far as tripping me, so I fell across him, my hands outstretched to the window, my stomach on his lap and my feet tangled up with his. He laughed so hard he almost woke up all the sleeping passengers on the plane. I silenced him with a look and a quick punch on the arm. I managed to untangle myself from him and sit down in my seat.

For some reason, the plane suddenly turned super cold. I shivered, and I was about to reach up to turn off the air conditioning blowing at my head when Zach put his arm around me. He wasn't even looking at me; he was reading a newspaper, but he noticed I was cold, and it seemed like putting his arm around me was almost an involuntary action, or an instinct. I didn't know if he was doing it for the sake of our covers, or if he was jumping back to the way things had been at Gallagher, but I didn't mind it at all. I snuggled closer to him and whispered in his ear about our mission. The conversation was entirely in Farsi, of course. To any onlooker, it might look like we were exchanging sweet loving words, but we were actually devising a plan.

When the plane landed, at about 3PM local time, we grabbed our luggage and rented a car, heading out of the airport as quickly as possible. Once again, Zach didn't let me drive, so I had to ride shotgun for the long drive to our hotel in Times Square. Zach said that the CIA had booked everything, so I didn't really know what to expect when we pulled into the hotel parking lot. A valet immediately came to assist us with our car, and a porter grabbed our two small bags and placed them on a trolley. We walked up to our room, sticking to our covers of the rich, snobby couple vacationing in New York.

Once we got up to our suite on the 11th floor, we waited for the porter to leave, and then we relaxed. I looked around, and, much to my dismay, found one queen size bed. "One bed," I yelled to Zach, questioningly. "Dibs," he yelled back from the living room. I rolled my eyes. I started unpacking my things and decided to take a shower. I went into the bathroom to find a shower with no curtain, just a see-through glass door, and a huge bathtub across from it. To top it off, the actual door to the bathroom was right across from the shower stall, and it was glass too. If Zach wanted, he could stand against the door and peer at my naked silhouette. I groaned. This was just fabulous.

I went into the bathroom, hanging as many towels as I could over the door so it would be less transparent. I had made sure to bring my clothes with me, so after my shower I got dressed into my old Gallagher sweats and a t-shirt, pulling my wet hair back into a French braid. If it had been any other guy staying with me, I might have made more of an effort with my appearance, but Zach had seen my in a much worse state than this, so I walked out of the bathroom and sat next to him on the couch.

He was mumbling to himself, going through the mission files, memorizing the identities of the men we would have to tail. I took out my mission files and did the same thing, trying to piece together the purpose of this mission. We sat comfortably like that for a while until he dropped his papers abruptly and looked at me. I turned to face him, raising my eyebrows, asking the silent question.

"How many times have things like that happened to you, Gallagher Girl?" Zach asked, staring directly into my eyes with his gorgeous green ones.

"I don't know what you mean…" I answered, confused.

"I mean," he clarified, "How many times have you been attacked randomly like you were in my building this morning?"

"A couple," I answered, lying. "It's no big deal, really."

Zach looked at me, shaking his head. "You're lying, Gallagher Girl." He saw through me.

"Okay, fine. It happens a lot. It's been happening ever since I graduated. It doesn't matter. I'm fine."

Zach looked at me, his face changing into a frown. "And you've told someone, right?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.

"No." I whispered, looking away from him.

Zach let out an angry breath of air, and started to yell at me: "Cam, you can't just pretend it doesn't happen! What's wrong with you? You could get seriously hurt! If the Circle has somehow managed to reform and is after you again…"

I interrupted him, yelling just was loud as he was: "I'm not pretending! I can defend myself! I don't need protection! I don't need a security detail following me at all times! I'm older now! It's not like I'm 17 and back at Gallagher. I'm fine by myself."

Zach started to yell again, but I cut him off with a whisper so quiet he had to lean forward to catch my words.

"Besides," I whispered, "It's not the Circle. It's something else, maybe even something worse."

Concern replaced the anger in Zach's eyes as he stared at me, trying to read into my words and see my emotions.

"Who is it?" he asked, whispering just as quietly as I was.

I shook my head. "I don't know. Whoever it is, they've been following me for the past six months, attacking me when I'm alone, away from work and away from my apartment. They don't tail me, they just…attack."

"Then why did you say you thought the guys from this morning might be from the Circle when I asked you about it?"

"I thought I recognized them." I admitted, looking directly at Zach. His eyes widened with alarm and then with recognition. He shuffled through the papers and pulled out a picture of one of our targets.

"It's him, isn't it?" He asked, already knowing what I was going to say.

I nodded, grabbed the picture and studied it intently. "It is him. I'm sure of it."

"Well then Gallagher Girl, this mission just got a lot more complicated. Not only are we trying to tail them, but they might still be after you. Which, unfortunately for you, means-"

"'Cammie doesn't go anywhere without me.'" I imitated Zach's voice, knowing what he would say before he said it. Zach laughed at my poor imitation of his deep voice and put his arm around me, pulling me closer. "What I was actually going to say," he said, "Is that you don't get to keep anymore secrets. No more lying, no more watering down strange things you see. This is real. This is a mission. Tell me everything that happens the way it happens, don't try and make it sound less dramatic than it is. Got that?"

I sighed and nodded reluctantly. Suddenly Zach stood up, winked at me and yelled: "Good, because I think it's time to take my fiancé out to dinner."

"And put something nice on, Gallagher Girl. The budget for this mission is extremely high and I am all for wasting it on delicious over-priced food." Zach called to me from the bathroom, where he was showering.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, going to the bedroom and putting on about the only formal thing I had brought: my favourite little black dress. I went just above my knees, and had two thin straps that crossed in the back. The under-layer of the dress was a silky black material, while the top layer was delicate, black lace. I brushed out my hair, putting a silk black ribbon in it that matched my dress, and put on some nylons and my black shoes. The shoes were about two inches high, so I could still run in them. New York weather was still cold in March, so I put on my black trench coat, filling the secret inside pockets with weapons. I looked in the mirror and decided I resembled either a deadly CIA agent or a woman going to a fancy funeral. Neither were the look I was going for, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Zach came out of the bathroom, dressed in a suit and fiddling with his tie.

"Here, let me do that." I said, stepping towards him and tying his tie for him. I had to stand on my toes, even with shoes on, to reach his neck comfortably, and when I was done, I looked up at him. His eyes had a mischievous glint in them and, before I knew it, his arms were around my waist and he was dipping me towards the ground. The world turned upside-down and Zach's lips met mine. We kissed for the first time in months, and it was at that moment when I realized how much I had missed him. He broke away from me and let me up. I still had my arms around his neck so I pressed closer to him and hugged him, laughing at his nerve. He was laughing too, and when I pulled away from him slightly, he looked in my eyes and said: "You don't know how much I've missed you, Gallagher Girl."

I stopped laughing and looked up at him. "I missed you too, Zach."

We smiled at each other and he grabbed my hand, pulling me out to the door. We decided to eat at a restaurant that was only a couple of blocks from the hotel, in case we needed to head back there quickly. We were in full cover now, Zach being cocky and debonair and me laughing at everything he said, playfully rolling my eyes but holding his hand at the same time. Which, when I thought about it, wasn't much different than our normal interaction.

The restaurant we went into also had a section for dancing, and there was a band playing. And it wasn't normal kind of music. It was ballroom music, the kind Madame Dabney had taught to dance to a while back. The whole time we were eating I was hoping Zach wouldn't drag me onto the dance floor, because I really hated dancing. We were eating desert, so I thought I was safe. But, being Zach, he grabbed me and pulled me onto the floor in the last minute. I smiled at him, but internally I was panicking and he knew it. Zach just winked at me, pulling me towards him and leading me into the waltz, following the slow music that was playing. This, I didn't mind. It was slow, and all I had to remember to do was follow him. Suddenly, the music changed to an upbeat salsa, and Zach, enjoying himself, had me spinning and twirling as he pleased.

A few minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a man who looked familiar. He darted into a corner behind the bar, but I had recognized him. It was one of our targets. Zach saw my eyes following the man and pulled me closer, still dancing, so I could whisper in his ear. "Target 1, 8 o'clock, just left the scene." I whispered in Russian. "Follow him." Zach instructed me, this time in German. "You can do it, Gallagher Girl. You're the Chameleon. Target 2 spotted at 4 o'clock. I'll tail him. Meet me at the bar in ten with whatever information you managed to find. Don't go too far." He spun me one last time and I just had the chance to tell him to be careful before I left the dance floor to tail the guy. He had gone behind the bar, near the washrooms, so that's where I decided I needed to go. Taking my time, blending into the crowd, I noticed everything. I saw that the seventh ceiling tile from the left was crooked, that the bartender had missed a spot shaving just below his chin, and that my target was on the move. Quickening my pace, I followed him, remaining the right distance behind him the whole time, stopping when I felt like it, becoming one with the crowd.

My target went outside and I followed, shivering in the cold New York night air. I noted my Target's preferred hand, his gun hand, and that he had a limp, possibly caused by a sore muscle in his left knee. I observed his walking pace, his caution towards protecting himself from tails (obviously it wasn't very high) and the lump in his right back pocket, which, when I got closer, I realized was a key card to a hotel. The target went into a parking garage and I waited on the outside, ready to catch his license plate number. A few minutes later, he sped into traffic in a bright red sports car, license plate number 6R3 8933. I noted the make and model, and then I went back to the restaurant to find Zach.

While tailing my target, I had been lead into a rougher part of town, and, dressed the way I was, I looked like an easy target for local muggers. Sure enough, a few minutes later I was pulled roughly into an alleyway and forced to fight off my attacker. Luckily, he was weak and untrained, just a typical New York homeless person looking for money. I kicked him off me, shoving him against a wall. I saw a glint of silver in his hands and saw that he had a knife. Kicking him once more in the head, I walked out of the alley calmly, wiping off the blood from the small slash he had made in my arm.

Not wanting to go back into the fancy restaurant looking like I had just been, well, mugged, I waited outside for Zach to notice me. He did, and came out, taking my coat with him. I put it on gratefully, instantly warming up.

"Anything," I asked. But he simply shook his head as if to say 'not here.' So we walked back to the hotel in silence, sticking to our covers all the way.


	3. Chapter 3

Once we got back to the room, I took off my painful shoes and my coat and stepped into the bathroom to clean up. I put some gauze on my arm after washing all the grime off, cleaned the makeup off my face and took my fancy clothes off. I changed into my Gallagher sweats and a Blackthorne t-shirt I had stolen from my mom who, in turn, had stolen it from my dad. I had to tie it around my hips with an elastic band so it would fit me properly, but other than that it was fine. I pulled my hair up into a bun on the top of my head and stepped out into the living room. Zach was sprawled across the couch, wearing plaid pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt, looking over the mission files and writing down more information that he had found out. He looked up at me when I came in, smirking at my outfit, but not making any other comment. I rolled my eyes and, knowing he wouldn't make room on the couch, grabbed a pillow and sat cross-legged on the floor, with my back against the couch.

I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders absentmindedly while thinking about the man I had tailed. The third time I cracked my neck, I felt Zach's hand there, giving me a back rub. I relaxed into his hand, letting him loosen all the tense muscles in my neck and back. He glanced at my arm. "What happened there?" he asked.

"Some poor guy tried to mug me, and he had a knife, but it was pretty dull and he was pretty weak." I replied. Zach nodded, still not fully paying attention to me. With one hand, he was going through the mission files, and with the other he was giving me a back rub, all the while muttering to himself.

"So," I asked, curiously, "Did you get anything?"

Zach nodded, saying, "Yeah, but not much. He got into a car and all I could get was the licence plate. I couldn't follow him after that."

"Yeah, same thing happened with me. Except I noticed that the guy I was tailing wasn't the same guy from your apartment this morning."

"Hmm, I think you're right." Zach muttered. "The only way I recognized my target was from the mission files. But I still think they're somehow all related."

I nodded, and held my hand up to Zach so that he would pass me the files. He understood what I meant and passed them down to me. "Yep, the two guys we tailed aren't the ones from this morning, but this third guy is definitely familiar." I remarked, passing the files back to him. I didn't really want to look at them anymore. I was too tired to put together pieces of a puzzle that might lead me to an organization worse than the Circle.

Zach puzzled over the papers for a while longer, but he eventually gave up too. He got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "You hungry?" he asked. "We didn't really have time to finish desert."

I nodded, asking him if there was any chocolate. He stuck his head in the fridge that was stocked full of snacks and yelled out "Only this brownie. Here." And he threw it at me, narrowly missing my head. I rolled my eyes, annoyed, and started eating the brownie. I was halfway finished scarfing it down when he came back and asked "Water?" Then, without waiting for an answer, promptly threw that at me too. I caught it easily, but that didn't make me any less annoyed. Zach was chuckling to himself, finding something funny with the whole 'Throw Things at Cammie's Head Game', when I scrambled up to the couch and sat down right before he did, stealing his spot. He looked at me, his face sarcastic, as he lifted me off the couch and dumped me on the floor again. I landed squarely on my butt, and made a huge thumping noise, shaking the glass on the coffee table.

Zach was killing himself laughing, to the point that tears were coming out of his eyes. "Oh, shut up." I told him, not at all enjoying the turn of events. After a while he managed to calm down, and he resumed my backrub, probably trying to make it up to me. I was going to tell him that it didn't make anything better, but stopped myself, because it did actually feel amazingly good. I closed my eyes and relaxed, feeling completely at ease for the first time in a long time.

Half an hour later, Zach whispered: "Gallagher Girl, I'm going to bed. It's late. See you in the morning."

I nodded, not really paying attention. I had started to go through the mission files again, trying to piece together the mystery. Gnawing on the end of my pencil, I went over the pictures again and again, trying to find a connection, a symbol, something. I pulled out my laptop, going through the CIA database, looking for any information on these guys. There was nothing. I decided that, to be able to solve the puzzle, we'd just have to tail them more tomorrow.

I wasn't ready to go to bed yet, so, out of habit, I searched Macey's name in the database. She was fine; she was on a mission in Paris. I couldn't look up Bex or Liz, because I wasn't a member of MI6 or NASA, but I searched them through the Gallagher database and found that they too were safe. I sighed with content. I missed my sisters, but at least I had the comfort of knowing they were safe.

I looked at the clock, and saw that it was 2AM, five hours before I had to get up the next morning. I put my laptop down and crawled onto the couch, falling asleep immediately.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up to Zach whispering "Gallagher Girl!" sharply in my ear. I groaned, but sat up. "What?" I snapped. I wasn't really a morning person. Zach snickered at my grumpiness and tossed me some food. "Here, eat this. Then get ready; we have to tail them again."

I ate the brownie he tossed me (Zach knew me well) and I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I took my hair out of its bun and it fell in curls down to the middle of my back. Once I was done washing up, I went into the bedroom and changed into my second favorite pair of jeans (my favorite ones had been ruined at Blackthorne), a V-neck black t-shirt and a pair of black knee-high leather boots (without a heal this time). I was pulling a hoodie over my head and stepping out of the bedroom when my hoodie was yanked off my arms.

"Hey!" I protested. "What are you doing?"

"Remember the covers, Gallagher Girl. If we were rich enough to be staying at this hotel, would you be wearing an old hoodie that you've had for years?"

"I guess not," I admitted grudgingly, instead reaching for my black trench coat and a bright scarf. I was gathering all the things we would need in my purse (including nicotine patches) when Zach tossed me a com. I put it on; thankful I was wearing my hair down. I also grabbed my fake engagement ring and slipped it on too. I sat down, waiting for Zach so we could go over the plan.

"We could go to where we were yesterday and see if the cars are still there. We'd need to use our car though; we can't tail them on foot." I suggested.

"Did you manage to retrace their licence plate numbers last night?" Zach asked, eyeing my laptop.

"They were stolen cars. It doesn't help us much."

"Okay, let's go."

We walked out of the hotel, and Zach left to go get the car. I was waiting for him on the street when I spotted one of the guys that had attacked me in Zach's apartment-our third target. I followed him, whispering to Zach through our coms what was going on. I walked through the crowd, following him, blending into my surroundings. I tailed the guy for 3 blocks, until he turned suddenly into a side street. I waited, and then followed. While I was turning the corner, I noticed someone tailing me. They were good but they stood out of the crowd too much to be a true pavement artist. "I've got another one on my tail." I whispered to Zach through my com.

"You're fine, Chameleon. Lose the guy behind you first; it's more important than tailing the guy in front." Zach advised me.

"Where are you?"

"I'm behind slightly in the car, I can't help you much."

"Thanks." I muttered sarcastically. "Anyways, I'm not losing this guy! I need to tail him; he's our target. I think the guy behind me might be related to the target, but I don't know for sure. I can lose him and tail the target at the same time."

"Are you sure?" Zach asked.

"Yes. Park the car and tail the guy behind me; he's about 6 foot 4, 200 pounds, wearing a black leather jacket, looks to be about 40 years old."

"Be careful." Zach told me, and then he went silent.

I maneuvered through the streets, keeping my target in the corner of my eye, stalling until I knew Zach was tailing the guy behind me, so I could lose him.

"I've got a visual, you can lose him now." I heard Zach whisper a few seconds later.

I used every counter-surveillance technique I could while still keeping an eye of the guy I was tailing. A couple blocks later, I turned to the left, effectively losing my tail. I stopped to buy a coffee from a street vendor while I was waiting for my target to get further away so I could follow him comfortably, and then I continued tailing him.

He went into an old, abandoned warehouse just off of the main street. Scanning the area, making sure no one saw me, I went in. I confirmed my location to Zach. After a couple of seconds he answered: "That's exactly where my guy is leading me. I'll find you once I get in."

I found a good hiding place in a closet just off the main room, and the closet had a huge air vent running out of it, so I figured it I needed a quick escape, it would work. I watched as my target and Zach's target met in the main room, sat down at a long dinner table and waited. Soon enough, 6 other men came in, all at different times, but all coming to the same place. It was then that Zach found me, joining me in the closet. He squeezed my hand, but we both said nothing as we tried to overhear the conversation going on in the room just outside the closet door.

"Any tails on your way in," asked the man sitting at the head of the table, presumably the leader.

The other seven men shook their heads.

"Good. Then let's begin." The leader put up a picture on the screen behind him. I tensed, but didn't say a word, because the picture was my CIA profile.

"This is our target, Cameron Morgan, operative #467039. She brought down our brother organization, the Circle of Cavan, just half a year ago. She thinks she is safe. But, as all of you in this room know, she is far from it."

Zach's faced turned into a frown, and I just stood there, listening to eight men discussing my fate.

"I understand that two of you have come in contact with the target?"

The two men that had attacked me in Zach's apartment building nodded.

"Yes, sir, we have managed to get close to her several times over the past six months, but each time has failed."

"How so," asked the leader, suspiciously.

"Well, we consider each attack as a test. Under your orders, we have never caused enough damage to permanently harm her."

"So," the leader snapped, "In other words, she has beaten you every time you try to attack her, and you're blaming me for it."

The two guys turned frantic, shaking their heads and protesting, saying that it wasn't what they intended to say at all.

In the blink of an eye, the leader pulled out a silenced gun and shot both men. It took all I had to remain silent. The room was dead silent for 2 seconds until the entry of yet another man. This time, I had to put my hands over my mouth to stop myself from making noise. I recognized this man. I had been working for him for the past six months. Even though he was heavily disguised, I knew it was the Director of the CIA.

"Sorry I'm late. I had some….business to take care of along the way." The Director mumbled, his eyes passing over the two bodies still lying at the table.

The leader of the men seemed to have a particular appreciation for the Director, and gave him the seat next to him, something I assumed was a great honour.

"So, Director, how are our friends at Langley?" The leader asked, with an almost childlike glint in his eye.

"Unsuspecting, as always," Answered the Director, looking equally as pleased at him.

It was at that point that Zach decided it was time to go. He motioned to the air vent, and I climbed into it with him not far behind me. I didn't talk the whole way back to the hotel. Not when we made our way out of that terrible warehouse, not when Zach asked me if I was okay while we were walking, not when we were finally safe in the hotel lobby. Zach set down his things in the room and looked at me standing in the middle of the room with absolutely no expression on my face. He moved his arm as if he was going to come near me, but then he hesitated.

"Gallagher Girl…" was all he said, looking at me with an expression full of sympathy.

Ignoring him, I walked over to the couch and sank down into to it, staring blankly ahead. After a moment, Zach sat next to me, sharing my silence. His shoulder was so close and looked so comforting that I was tempted to put my head there. Slowly, I lowered my head onto his shoulder, and, in one fluid motion, he put his arm around me. We sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other's company.


	5. Author's Note

Author's Note

Hi guys! Thanks for all the positive reviews of both my stories! I've never really used this website as an author, so bear with me as I get used to it. I had to change the format of my stories because I wanted them in chapters, so I apologize if you got tons of weird alerts and saw that nothing really changed.

I'll be updating soon, I promise! One of the things that annoy me most is authors that leave perfectly good stories unfinished, so I promise never to do that to you. I'll definitely have a new chapter for this story up by Wednesday at the latest, because I did leave it off on a bit of a cliff. (I was so excited for you guys to read it that I didn't bother finishing it.)

One more thing…do you have any ideas for a better title for this story? I'm terrible with titles, as you can see by the cheesy awfulness that I decided on… "A Mission to New York" is so boring, so I'm open to all your suggestions! Also, feel free to point out anything that doesn't make sense or that you think doesn't seem to follow the characters' (created by Ally Carter) personalities.

Thank you all so much! I really appreciate the fast response I got from so many of you!

Thanks to RoyalCrown29, TrueGreek, xCream and AussieGallagherGirl for the kind reviews!


	6. Chapter 6

For the first time since we had overheard the conversation in the old abandoned warehouse, I allowed myself to think about what had been said and what it meant. I knew that I couldn't trust anyone anymore…except Zach. I knew that he was by my side (figuratively _and_ literally) and that he was as surprised about the turn of events as I was. I knew that the mission I was on was a hoax plotted by the Director of the CIA to get me into the playing field for him and his organization to target me without onlookers. That didn't explain why Zach was here…maybe they thought it would seem less suspicious, I thought. People would be suspicious if I was sent on a mission on my own, being so young- by CIA terms.

But the most important thing I knew, and the thing I was most sure of, was that we had to leave. We had to leave the hotel and we had to do so without the Director and his organization knowing. One of the most important things you learn as a spy is that you must never, ever, let the enemy know you have the upper hand. Knowing what Zach and I did, the only way to protect myself was to run, and to run in secret. We would have to leave separately and in disguise, going to a different location where we would still observe the organization at a distance.

I lifted my head from Zach's shoulder, and I looked at him. My eyes must have conveyed what I was thinking, because Zach immediately adopted the same determined look I had. He got up and I said: "We have to go."

He nodded. "You have everything you need to…" Not wanting to continue, in case we were somehow being watched.

I said yes, and went into the bedroom, digging through my suitcase and pulling out my disguise kit. I wanted to appear totally different than my usual self, but I was limited with equipment. I decided to use my suitcase to my benefit, since I couldn't leave without it anyway. My cover would be a young business woman on her way to a conference. Out of all my covers, this was probably the most normal. I put on a tight, black knee-length pencil skirt that I had borrowed from Macey. It was a little restricting, but it had a slit at the knee which helped a little. I tucked a plain, white, silk blouse into the skirt, and put on black nylons, aiming for a boring and professional look. The outfit was a little tighter than I would've liked, but I knew that to fully adopt a cover, you have to step out of your comfort-zone. I stood in front of the mirror and went all-out with makeup. I put on creams and powders to make myself look paler, I used some products that Macey had given me to make my cheekbones look longer and shaper and my nose look smaller and narrower. I used a pencil to change the shape and colour of my eyebrows, making them dark brown with a more defined arch. I put on all the eye make-up I could find without making myself look like a clown or a slut. In the end I was surprisingly satisfied with the result. I looked like an older, sexier and thinner version of myself, except with a longer and thinner looking face. I put on a wavy auburn wig over my hair and I styled it into a messy bun, leaving hair hanging to cover the com I would wear in my ear. I pulled on a black blazer over my shirt, completing the look. Finally, I put on a pair of stilettos that make my feet hurt just looking at them. Grabbing my purse and zipping up my suitcase, I stepped out of the room, walking with confidence in my shoes, trying to become my cover.

I found Zach gathering his things into a backpack that screamed 'tourist'. He had adopted his usual cover of an old, white-haired man with bushy eyebrows, improving the disguise by wearing ugly green cargo pants and a t-shirt that said 'I'm with Stupid'. His left shoulder was hunched slightly lower than his right, giving him a weaker image. In short, we looked nothing like ourselves. Zach eyed my disguise, not saying a word. He simply asked: "Ready?"

With my stilettos on, I was able to look him directly in the eye for a change. "Coms," I asked. I wasn't able to ask him what I wanted to while we were in the hotel, so I was hoping we could talk outside, while we were on coms. Zach tossed me one, and, grabbing his stuff, he led me out of the room. When we reached the elevator, he smiled at me grimly and kept walking towards the stairs. I didn't acknowledge him; I was in my cover now, and my cover didn't know him. I waited impatiently for the elevator to come, putting on the face of the bored and snotty lady I was supposed to be.

Once I managed to get out of the hotel, I started talking to Zach. "Taxi or walking…where is the new location?" I whispered into my com. He didn't answer right away, so I kept walking, trying to look like I had a purpose. I went into a nearby coffee shop and bought myself a latte, still waiting for Zach's response.

"Hampton. T.S. Taxi. 20 minutes." Was all I got from Zach, a couple minutes later. I hailed a nearing taxi, my heels clicking on the pavement. I slid into the back seat after putting my suitcase in the trunk and said: "The Hampton Hotel, Times square, please." to the driver. The drive took longer than expected, because it was nearing rush hour. I tried to make conversation with the driver in hopes that Zach would hear and know that I was running late.

"So, is New York usually this busy around this time?" I asked the driver, even though I already knew the answer.

The driver nodded gruffly.

"That's a shame," I pouted, "Because I don't want to be late for my conference."

"I'm sure you'll only be a little late, miss." The taxi driver assured me.

Through my com, I heard Zach say: "I'm waiting in room 604. Go to the lobby, don't stop. Take the elevator to the third floor, get off, then take the stairs to the room, okay, Chameleon?"

"That's good, thank you." I answered the taxi driver and Zach, and was pleased to know they both got the message.

Twenty five minutes and thirty seconds later, the taxi pulled up in front of the hotel. I paid the driver, took my suitcase from the trunk and walked into the hotel, walking as if I was in a hurry to get to my conference. I pulled my suitcase across the tiled floor of the lobby and stopped in front of the elevator. There was one already available, so I got in quickly and shut the door before anyone could follow me in. At the third floor, as per Zach's instructions, I got off and walked towards the stairs. I made sure no one was following me, and then I started making the three-story climb. I only put weight on my toes so that I wouldn't make any noise while I was climbing. I carried my suitcase, and before long, I was at the sixth floor.

I waited until there was no one on the floor, and then I walked briskly to Zach's floor. He opened the door before I knocked, and I slipped in discreetly. I scanned the room, and, seeing a chair at the other end, sat down and started pulling off the torture devises- shoes- from my feet. Zach had taken off his disguise, and he simply stared at me from across the room. I put my feet up on the little table and looked at him.

I saw the worry in his eyes, even though he was clearly trying to appear calm and collected. I noticed his hands were clenched in fists in his pockets, and when he saw me looking, he shifted his gaze to the ground. I crossed the room slowly, standing so I was facing him. Quietly, barely above a whisper, I recited all the counter-surveillance techniques I had used to make sure no one was tailing me. I told him the licence plate of every car that was within 30 meters behind us. I finished off by saying: "I'm fine. I'm safe. Don't worry."

He let out a shaky breath and grabbed me so quickly that I was literally swept off my feet. He pulled me into his arms, wrapping his arms around my back and squeezing me tightly. I threw my arms around his neck so I wouldn't fall over and I strained my ears to catch what he whispered next: "It shouldn't be like this, Gallagher Girl. It shouldn't. You're nineteen years old, and you've already been target by not one, but two terrible terrorist organizations. No one should have to do what you do. You aren't fine. You can't be. You shouldn't even be here, alive, but somehow, you still are. You've survived everything that's been thrown at you so far…Just, please; promise me, you'll be careful."

"I promise." I whispered, my face pressed into his shoulder.

Zach started to relax his hold on me, letting my feet touch the ground, but I clung on just has tightly. At that moment in time, Zach was the only person in the world I knew for sure I could trust. I had never felt so lonely. Just thinking of the possibility that he could be gone made me only want to hold him tighter. Zach understood how I was feeling. He hugged me tighter and whispered: "I'll never leave you, Gallagher Girl. That's something I promise you."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note

This is just a short little chapter to satisfy your curiosity.

I slipped out of Zach's arms and walked into the bathroom silently, pulling my suitcase behind me. I changed into my normal clothes and pulled off my wig. I was too lazy to take off my make-up; I just wiped the powder off my face but left my eye make-up on. Once I was done, I sat down on the toilet seat and took several deep breaths. When I got out of the bathroom, I needed to be calm. Zach and I had both shown moments of weakness in this hotel room, but that couldn't happen anymore. We were on a mission. This wasn't just business anymore.

I exhaled, gathered my things and stepped out into the room. For the first time since I came in, I took a good look at it. It was much smaller than the other hotel room we were in. This one was just one room, with a queen sized bed in the middle. There was a chair and coffee table in the corner, a TV hanging on the wall, and a bigger, two-person table at the other end. I tried not to think about how the sleeping arrangements would work out.

I set my stuff down near the bathroom and joined Zach at the dining table. He was one the phone, ordering a pizza. He was using the hotel's phone, not our own cell phones, so he couldn't be tracked. He hung up, and I asked: "Did you check the place for bugs?"

"Yeah, we're good."

We sat there, doing nothing, for at least ten minutes. I didn't know what to do. We were on a mission that had no clear goal except to gather information on people we thought we could trust. And we had to stay discreet, because we were technically on a mission within a mission. It was all very confusing. There was nothing we could do about it, but it was hard to accept that. As a spy, I always wanted to be doing something.

After sitting at the table for a while, I decided to come to terms with the fact that I couldn't do anything. I got up from the table, ignoring the questioning glance from Zach, and walked towards the door. I honestly didn't know what I was doing. Thankfully, I was saved by the arrival of the pizza guy, so it looked like I was getting up to let him in.

I opened the door and took the pizza, paying the guy quickly. He left, and I put the pizza on the table in front of Zach.

"Come on," I said, "Let's eat. I'm hungry." I grabbed a piece of pizza and started stuffing my face.

Zach was smirking at me. "Okay, Gallagher Girl, whatever you say."

"Why are you laughing at me?" I asked, quickly swallowing my mouthful of pizza.

He reached towards my face and wiped off a smear of tomato sauce that was on my nose.

"Oh," I said, embarrassed. I put down my pizza and wiped my mouth with a napkin.

Zach stopped laughing and grabbed a piece of pizza.

"So…" I said, trying to break the silence.

"So?" Zach repeated.

"What have you been up to…you know….other than that mission?" I tried to ask casually.

Zach's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, um, you know. Like, did you meet any new people on your mission?"

Zach's eyes glinted mischievously. "Are you jealous, Gallagher Girl? Trying to see if I dated anyone?"

"What? No, obviously not. The whole world isn't about you, Zachary Goode." I protested, even though that was exactly what I trying to find out.

"Really," Zach asked, still smirking.

"Yes. I don't care if you have a girlfriend. That would be fine with me."

"It would be fine with you." Zach said incredulously.

"Yes." I lied.

"Are you sure?" Zach asked, leaning closer towards me.

"Yes," I breathed, startled at his closeness.

"You're sure." He said, this time so close that I could feel his breath on my face.

"I-" I stuttered, unable to think clearly with him so close to me.

"I thought so." Zach smirked, pulling away from me suddenly.

I exhaled in surprise, trying to collect myself.

"Well?" I demanded.

"Well what?"

"Well, do you have a girlfriend?" I snapped.

He got up from the table and came to stand behind me. Bending down so that his lips were by my ear, he whispered: "No, Gallagher Girl. I don't have a girlfriend."

I turned my head around to see him, but he was already across the room, sprawled out on the bed. I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long night.

I sat down on the chair in the corner, and started reading a magazine I found lying on the table. Zach ignored me, and sat on the bed watching TV.


	8. Chapter 8

I couldn't really pay attention to the magazine I was leafing through. I was actually thinking about what Zach had just said, or rather what I had just said. Did I really just ask him, straight up, if he had a girlfriend? I couldn't believe myself. Zach and I….our relationship had always been complicated. After Gallagher, when I didn't see him for months, I just gave up. Not on my feelings for him, but on any hopes of him reciprocating them. Now, I wasn't so sure. It felt like, as soon as we started this mission, things were back to the way they were before. Zach had kissed me! Granted, I wasn't sure if he was in cover when he did that. And we both laughed it off after. It was quite the clichéd kiss after all-him dipping me and everything.

In reality, I still felt the same about Zach as I had a year ago. The only difference was that I had gotten better at hiding it from him. At least, I hoped so. Looking back on our conversation over pizza, it was clear that I wasn't doing such a good job. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I put the embarrassing moment at the table behind me and focused on the present.

The present wasn't very tempting to think about either. I didn't want to think about the terrorist organization hunting me down, or the mission I was on, or my plans to get away from them. That left me back at the same topic I started with: Zach. I sighed loudly, running my fingers through my hair, trying to distract myself. Zach turned the TV off and looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

He just shook his head and pulled out his computer, ignoring me once again.

I rolled my eyes. Zach was acting like a child. I didn't know why, but I was determined not to give in. I decided to walk around the hotel; being in this tiny room with Zach was going to kill me. I had just taken two steps towards the door when, suddenly, Zach was in front of me, blocking my way.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Out," I snapped.

"I don't think so, Gallagher Girl, unless you want to be killed by an army of terrorists." He replied, with an equally snappish tone.

"I think I can take care of myself, Zach."

Zach just raised his eyebrows at me.

"I can! I'm fine. Leave me alone! Just because I made one stupid comment doesn't mean you have to make fun of me all night. Honestly, Zach. Way to be annoying."

"And what stupid comment are you referring to?" He asked, smirking.

"You know what I mean." I snapped, looking at the floor.

"Oh…you mean, when you asked if I had a…girlfriend." He taunted, drawing out the word.

"Look, I don't care if you have a girlfriend. It's okay if you lied. Honestly, I don't care. I mean, I care a little-no, I don't. Do whatever you want. Well, not whatever- You know what? Just-just-argh! Just shut up! Zach Goode, you are the most-" I was interrupted by Zach's lips on mine. He was kissing me! I couldn't believe it. I smiled slightly, and kissed him back. When he finally broke away, we were both grinning.

"Face it, Gallagher Girl. You care."

"Maybe…a little…." I admitted grudgingly.

Zach laughed, and, just as quickly as he had kissed me, he turned around. He took my seat in the corner and started leafing through the same magazine I had been reading.

I sighed and sat on the bed, fiddling with my laptop and playing hearts on it. After I won two games, I turned my computer off and lay down in bed. I must have fallen asleep, because that was the last thing I remembered.

In the morning, I woke up with my head on Zach's chest and his arms wrapped around me. He was still sleeping, so I closed my eyes again, and, sighing, fell asleep again in his arms.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up a bit later to the sound of Zach's voice. "Gallagher Girl," he whispered while stroking my hair, "are you up?"

"Mmmmmm," I groaned in response.

Zach chuckled, and even though my eyes were closed, I could tell he was smirking. "Come on Cam, wake up!"

"Nooooooooooooo," I whined, nuzzling my face deeper into Zach's neck. While doing so, I made sure I ended up directly on top of Zach, so that he wouldn't be able to get up. I was lying diagonally across his chest, my face in his neck, with my legs tangled around his. I didn't know about Zach, but for me, it was an extremely comfortable position. Judging from the way he wrapped his arms around me, he wasn't having a bad time either. I relaxed again, sighing with content and knowing I was perfectly safe. I had almost drifted off again when Zach startled me by hissing in my ear "GALLAGHER GIRL!" I screamed and jumped a bit, coming to a sitting position. I was not pleased.

Zach had already guessed that by the probably murderous look on my face. But he wouldn't let me win. Suddenly, he scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder. "Zach!" I squeaked in protest, not sounding too frightening because I was laughing at the same time. "Put me down!"

"No way," He answered simply, carrying me to the bathroom and dumping me in the shower. "You can't sleep all day Gallagher Girl. Go get ready now."

"Fine," I stated grudgingly, shoving him out to door so I could take a shower. When I was done, I stepped out of the shower and reached for my towel. I dried myself, and was about to put on my clothes, when I realized they were gone. I shook my head. Zach. How immature of him.

I wrapped myself as best as I could in the tiny hotel towel and stepped out of the bathroom. I turned towards the bed, only to find Zach had gone to sleep again! That conniving jerk! I wasted no time in getting dressed, and when I was fully clothed, I crept onto the bed where Zach was sleeping. I crawled on top of him, not touching him, just hovering above him. I waited for the perfect moment, and then I let myself fall squarely on his chest, knocking the wind of him. He gasped and awoke with a start, but he quickly regained his composure. I was laughing my head off, until he swiftly turned me over so that he was on top of me, and pinned me down.

"Zach, what..." I stopped laughing and looked at him, puzzled.

He had a mischievous glint in his eyes, and he was smirking. "Just remember," he whispered sexily in my ear, sending shivers down my spine, "you're the one who slept pressed against me all night, Gallagher Girl."

He got up quickly, leaving me panting and confused on the bed.

I regained my composure quickly and walked up the bathroom door where Zach was showering.

"Zach!" I yelled.

"What? Couldn't stay away, Gallagher Girl?" He taunted.

"Shut up. I need to ask you something."

"Ask away!" He answered.

"Are we leaving stuff behind so we can't be tracked?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then I'll be out of clothes and disguises. I need to go shopping. Do we still have the mission budget?"

"Yeah, good idea, I need a few things too. We can do that today." He replied, surprisingly compliant.

"Okay," I said, walking back to the bed. I gathered what was left of my stuff and tossed it in my purse. I checked the room to make sure everything was put away, and by the time I was done, Zach was ready.

I left my suitcase and all my clothes that didn't fit into my purse in the closet. I was wearing my favourite pair of lulus, a hoodie, toms, and a redhead wig. I was sitting on the bed when Zach came out, dressed and ready.

"Here, Cams!" He said, and tossed me a com, while putting one in his own ear.

"Where do you want to go first?" He asked.

"Actually, I was thinking of going off on my own..."

"What? Why?" He asked. "You clearly couldn't stay away from me earlier." He regained his confidence and winked at me.

"Well, I don't really want you coming bra shopping with me, Zach..." I muttered, embarrassed.

Zach threw his head back and laughed. "Good point, Gallagher Girl."

Nevertheless, he took his hand and let me out of the room. It felt so natural and comfortable to be so close to Zach. I couldn't remember how I had lasted so long without him. Even then, the thought of being without him scared me. He had become such a constant thing in my life during the past few days, and I needed him. When we were alone in the elevator, he felt the change in my attitude, and squeezed my hand slightly.

I smiled at him as he traced circles on my palm with his thumb, reassuring me and calming me down.

When the elevator reached the lobby, he quickly handed me some cash that the CIA had given us and let go of my hand.

"Meet me at this address in three hours," he whispered, handing me a slip a paper.

I nodded, smiled at him, and walked out of the elevator ahead of him. My cover didn't know him, and if we were seen together if would be sending up a flare for the people trying to look for us.

I decided to head to the Starbucks at the corner first. I got myself a drink and walked down to the nearest Subway station, taking a train to fifth and 60th. I had a decent amount of money of me, so I was going to spend it on good things.

I got off the train, adopting the quick pace of the average New Yorker, and walked up to street level. I decided to go to Victoria Secret first, because I did not want to keep wearing the same underwear for too long. Because I had money, I bought three of the fanciest, showiest bras I could find, enough thongs to last me a week, and a couple of good old lace panties, and some love pink pjs. They were pink flannel shorts, and a black t-shirt that said love pink on it. I paid the clerk and left with my bag of stuff, getting into the shopping game.

Next I went to Zara and bought a casual coral lace dress, and a fancier, tighter black one. Shopping was so much better when I didn't have to worry about money too much. I got a skirt, three tops and a new trench coat from H&M, some new Citizen jeans, a pair of stiletto boots, some comfortable flats and some toiletries.

When I got to the meeting place Zach had told me to go to, a nearby Starbucks, I set my bags down, took a seat and I waited for Zach to show up. I was started to get worried when Zach was ten, than fifteen minutes late.

"Zach," I whispered into my com. "Where are you?"

"Chameleon, I'm fine. I was scoping out a place for us to spend the night. Sorry about that. I thought you'd be late with your shopping anyway. I'll be there in two minutes."

"Fine, but don't scare me like that next time, okay?" I whispered anxiously.

"I'm sorry." He answered sheepishly.

But sure enough, Zach showed up two minutes later. I started to talk to him, but his look silenced me. He helped me with my bags, and we started down the street. Once we were somewhat alone, Zach started talking.

"I don't think it's safe for us to stay in hotels anymore." He said grimly.

"Where else would we stay?" I asked.

He gave me a look. "I hate to make you do this, Gallagher Girl, but we're going to have to-"

"No. I can't go back there." I refused to. I knew what he was talking about. He wanted me to retrace my steps. He wanted me to go back to the safe house I created while I was running from the Circle. I couldn't go back there. It was full of terrifying half memories.

"It's our only hope, Cammie." Zach stated with his eyes full of pity.

I stopped walking and faced Zach. He didn't understand how truly terrified I was of those memories.

"I can't, Zach. I'm so scared. I can't go back there. Please, Zach, please don't make me go there. Please!" I pleaded, tears coming to my eyes.

"You won't be alone this time. I'll be there. I promise I'll never leave your side. I promise. Cammie, please." Zach begged, staring deep into my eyes.

I exhaled shakily and nodded. Zach flagged down a taxi and I recited the address I knew by heart to the driver. Zach gripped my hand tightly, but I couldn't shake off my terror. My face remained blank, but inside I was screaming.

When we got to the place, I gave Zach my bags and walked down into the basement of a brownstone I always had the keys to. I punched in a pass code into the keypad on the hidden door and walked down, into the pits of my memories.

The safe house was the same as I had left it. There were two rooms, one living room and one bedroom, with a bathroom off the bedroom. The bedroom had a double bed in it with covers I had picked out myself, a small dresser, a carpet over the concrete floor and many secret storage places full with what I knew were weapons. The living room had one simple armchair, a laptop, a desk, a bookcase full of spy manuals, and some blankets piled high in a cupboard.

Zach and I set our bags down in the living room. I just stood there in shock, overwhelmed by all the memories. Flashbacks of running, being tortured and being mind-controlled by Dr Steve flashed through my head. I couldn't take it. My hands started shaking and I balled them into fists. Then my legs gave out, and just as I was about to sink to the ground, Zach grabbed me in his strong arms. I clung onto him for dear life, because he was the only real thing I had left in this terrible place.

I was brought back down to Earth by Zach yelling "Breathe, Cammie! Breathe!" I guess he must have been saying that for awhile, and I must have not heard him before. I took in a shaky, deep breath and let my tears fall. Sobs raked my back, and I shook with fear and sadness. All the while, I never let out a sound. I was afraid of being heard, of somehow coming in contact with the past me that once lived here.

Zach pressed me so close to him I could feel his heartbeat. He stroked my back slowly and gently, keeping a steady rhythm. I tried to match my breaths to his, and eventually I felt more like myself. Zach felt me start to regain composure, so he started talking to me gently.

"Shh, Cammie, shh, it's going to be alright. I'm here, just like I promise. Shh, don't worry. That's it. Just breathe. There you go."

I felt myself start to relax a little in his arms, and I felt the feeling slowly return to my body. I let out a breath and tilted my face up so I could see Zach. His eyes were so full of worry and regret, I felt awful.

"Zach?" I whispered hoarsely.

"What, Cams?" He answered softly.

"Thank you." I said softly. I wanted him to know how much he was helping me by being there.

He squeezed me tightly, pressing his face to my hair and let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm so sorry, Cammie. I'm so, so, so sorry." I could hear the sadness in his voice.

"I'm going to be alright, I think." I answered.

I broke away from him, but he kept a hold of my hand, and we walked over to the cupboard in the living room. I grabbed a blanket and sat down on the floor, crossing my legs under me. Zach sat behind me and started rubbing my back gently, loosening the tension and the worry from my shoulders. I closed my eyes and leaned into his hands, sighing.

"You're so good at this." I murmured.

Zach said nothing, but moved his fingers to a spot just above my neck and pushed, hard. I let out a moan as I felt my muscles release into relaxation.

Zach chuckled a little, but kept rubbing my back, neck and shoulders. After a while he was just holding me, so I leaned into him and we sat together, saying nothing.

We sat comfortably for a few minutes, until Zach asked "Do you want some water or anything to eat? It's about dinner time."

"Sure! How about...chocolate," I asked, feeling more like my old self.

Zach laughed. "I was thinking maybe some sandwiches I picked up earlier, and then you can have chocolate."

"Fine," I smiled.

We sat on the floor around the little table, eating our makeshift dinner.

"Sorry there's only one chair. I kind of meant it to be just for me..." I apologized awkwardly.

"I know, Gallagher Girl."

"Zach?" I asked timidly.

"What is it?" He answered.

"Pass me the chocolate." I ordered, giggling.

Zach smirked at me, but passed it to me anyway.

While I was eating it, I caught Zach staring at me.

"What?" I asked with my mouth full.

Zach smiled. "I was just thinking that you're going to be okay."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, even though you hate this place, and it's so hard for you, I think you're going to be alright."

"Well, the chocolate helps." I admitted, jokingly.

Zach laughed.

"But, there's one more thing." I said, seriously this time.

"And what is that," asked Zach, catching on to me serious mood.

"It's you. You helped me so much. I don't know what I would do without you, Zach." I whispered.

"I love you, Gallagher Girl." Zach answered, startling me.

But I smiled. "I love you too, Zach."

I finished my chocolate, picked up some clothes from my bags and told Zach I was going to take a shower. I took my time, cleaning off layers off sweat, tears, and pain. Once I was done, I put on my new pajamas, a Blackthorne hoodie and some fuzzy socks. When I stepped out, Zach looked at me in confusion.

"Where'd you get that hoodie?" He asked, confused. He stood up and picked up the sleeve, obviously looking for something. When he found the tiniest hole and the seam, he smirked at me.

"You don't have to steal my clothes, Gallagher Girl. I thought you had enough of your own."

"It smells good." I mumbled so he wouldn't hear me. Unfortunately, he did. And he laughed at me, but at the same time pulled me into a hug.

"You can keep it, Gallagher Girl."

"Good." I answered. "Because I wasn't going to give it back anyway."

I crawled into bed, curling up under the covers, waiting for Zach to get ready. After about 20 minutes, he sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at something on the laptop.

"What are you doing?" I asked, frustrated. "It's late. Turn the light off."

"Sorry, Cams, didn't realize you wanted a snuggle buddy." He said, winking at me.

"Oh, shut up." I snapped.

"So you want me to leave?" He taunted.

My face fell at the prospect of being alone in this hellhole. He saw I wasn't joking around anymore and crawled under the covers with me, wrapping his arms around me. He stroked my hair and I curved my body so it fit exactly into his. Soon enough, I drifted off to sleep to the sound of his peaceful breathing.


	10. Chapter 10

For the next couple of days we laid low, moving from hotel to hotel in the city, losing tails and staying off the radar. It was a boring few days, and it wasn't until the evening of the third day, when Zach and I were sitting in our fifth room in five days, when I proposed a change in our course of action.

"Zach,"

He looked up from his laptop to meet my eyes. "What is it?" He asked.

"We need to do something about this. We know where they meet. We know who they are. We need to confront them! I can't just keep hiding. We haven't even found out anything useful, and-"

"Hold on, Gallagher Girl. What exactly do you expect us to do? Just waltz in there and do what?"

"Well, I just want to do something! I mean, obviously, we wouldn't just walk in. I mean we could get in without them noticing, you know, maybe find out, I don't know, why they want to kill us?!" I raised my voice at the end, frustrated.

Zach got up, walked across the room and stood to face me. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked down into my eyes.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"I can't just sit and wait, Zach." I whispered.

"It's not safe, Gallagher Girl."

"It's not safe for us to sit here without knowing anything about what we're facing!" I argued.

Zach looked at me, and saw the emotion in my face. After a second of thinking, he said "You're right. We need to do it. We'll go in the morning."

"Really?" I gasped, surprised. I hadn't expected him to agree so quickly.

"Yes, really. It'll be tough, but I think with a decent plan and a level head, we'll be able to get some information out of them."

I grinned broadly and threw my arms around him. He laughed, and hugged me back.

When I pulled away, my smile faded quickly when I realized how elaborate our plan had to be.

"So..." I whispered.

"So what?" Zach asked.

"What's the plan, exactly?"

"Well, given that we don't have a map of the place, we can't really plan our entrance, and we can't call anyone for backup, so we would have to split up."

"And, given our limited resources and knowledge of the target, we're just going to hope they aren't there when we come in."

"I don't know about you, Gallagher Girl, but I think that's the best and most thought out plan in all of history!" Zach said sarcastically.

I sighed. "We don't have much of a choice, you know. It's the best we've got."

"You're right, you're right."

And so, with our shabby excuse for a plan, we went to bed, hoping that, maybe, just maybe, in the morning we would have the unbelievable luck of having a successful mission.

I woke up at around nine to find the bed empty. I sat up and heard the shower, so I knew Zach had gotten up already.

I trudged to the mini fridge and pulled out an apple. I ate it while I waited for Zach to get ready.

I wasn't very confident about our spur of the moment plan. I wished we had more time to think of something better, but we were in a different kind of situation. The fake mission the CIA had sent us on was only a week long, and that time would expire soon, causing people to worry about us. When spies don't return from a mission on time, people assume the worst. So we had to solve the mystery of the organization trying to kill us all before the week was up. It was not an ideal situation.

Soon enough, Zach came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready. I went in and showered and dressed myself, and, half an hour later, we gathered our bags and headed for the lobby.

The drive into the city where the warehouse was took about an hour, because even though we weren't very far away, we hit the morning traffic rush.

When we got there, we parked the car a few blocks away from the warehouse, in an underground parking garage. Before we got out of the car, Zach looked at me.

"Are you sure about this, Gallagher Girl?"

I smiled at him. "I'm sure."

I needed answers, and I willing to do anything to get them.

We walked toward the warehouse, blending with the crowd. We both had guns hidden beneath our clothing, along with nicotine patches and comms hidden in our ears.

We went into the warehouse through a service door and quickly scoped out the place. Luckily, there was no one there. We split up and searched the four floors of the warehouse in hopes of finding clues. Zach went upstairs, and I stayed down.

There wasn't much inside. They were obviously very careful to hide their evidence.

I walked into the room with the huge dining room table where we had seen them meet last time. Again, there was nothing. The table was bare, the chairs were all sitting neatly in place, and you could barely tell anyone had even been there.

I walked around for a couple more minutes, until I came into a simple, bleak room that had nothing inside of it. There wasn't even a rug on the floor or lights on the ceiling. I ran my hand along the walls, looking for a secret passageway of some sort. My hand hit a little slit in the dry wall. Excited, I quickly pushed it, and the wall shifted to reveal a tiny, dark room that had three computers inside of it. They were all laptops, which I assumed made it easier to take them quickly in case of emergency.

I tried the hack into one of them, but I had no luck. I tried the other two and was just as unsuccessful. I sighed, exasperated. I knew I was pressed for time, so I just turned the laptop over and took out the hard drive. I was just taking out the hard drive from the second computer when I heard Zach's voice through the comm.

"Chameleon, they're coming. They've got grappling hooks on the roof and they're repelling up. Get out!"

I turned the third computer over and started taking out the hard drive quickly. "Where should we meet?"

I was met with nothing but silence. "Zach! Zach?"

I started to get worried, and stuffed the hard drives in bag. I turned to exit the room, and I started walking towards the exit when I heard someone coming down the stairs.

I pressed myself against the wall, but there was really nowhere to hide. I held my breath as the man came closer, but he noticed me anyway, even through the darkness.

"Well well. If it isn't the Chameleon." He sneered.

I said nothing, and simply pulled out my gun and pointed it at him.

He laughed. "You're not going to kill me."

"Watch me." I stated coolly, placing my finger on the trigger.

He furrowed his eyebrows and started to make a move on me, but before he could touch me, I shot him in the foot and ran up the stairs.

"Zach! Zach! Where are you?"

"I'm on the roof Chameleon! They're all gone from up here, and it's the best way out! Come on!"

"Coming!" I whispered as I made my way up the stairs.

I had almost escaped. I was running on the roof, climbing some old wooden steps to get to where Zach was on the highest part of the roof when my foot went through one of the rotted steps. I gasped in pain- I had hurt the same leg that had been injured years ago, when I was running from the Circle. I couldn't lose my lead on my pursuers, so I yanked my foot out of the rubble, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain, and ran to join Zach. He was busy reversing the direction of the grappling hooks the enemy agents had used to get up here, so he didn't notice me getting hurt. I kneeled down next to him and he looked over at me.  
>I stared at him, finally allowing myself to think that this could be the end. Some of my fear shone in my eyes.<br>Zach just looked back at me, never breaking eye contact, staring at me with understanding. He couldn't tell me things would be okay. They wouldn't. He couldn't promise me we would escape. That was still very uncertain. So instead, he stood up, offered me his hand, and pulled me to my feet.  
>"Do you trust me?" He asked.<br>I flashed back to that day in junior year when he said the exact same thing, in an all too similar location.  
>I nodded, and grabbed a hook, fastening it to my belt. He did the same.<br>I grabbed Zach's hand, and together we jumped to potential death.

We hit the ground running- literally. The cables from the grappling hooks didn't extend all the way to the ground, so we had to unhook ourselves four feet from the ground and jump. I tried to land on my good foot, but ended up losing my balance and collapsing on my hands and knees. I was only down for a second- I picked myself up and started sprinting after Zach. Normally, I would have been able to match his speed easily, but I did have a huge disadvantage, with a possibly broken ankle and all. So, without slowly down, Zach reached for my hand and half pulled me along. We ran in between buildings, staying out of sight, until we got to our car. I jumped into the passenger seat, slamming the door behind me. Before I knew it Zach had the car going almost as fast as it could go. Zach's hands gripped the wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. I was on the edge of my seat, craning my neck looking in the mirror to make sure we weren't being followed. After about half an hour, when we got on the interstate, I allowed myself to relax slightly. That was a mistake. When I loosened up, my adrenaline went down, and I could feel the pain in my ankle again. I winced.  
>"Ow." I moaned softly.<br>I felt Zach's hand squeeze mine.  
>I smiled at him. "I'm fine."<br>Zach rolled his eyes at me, then turned his attention back to the road.  
>I took off my cardigan, ripped a strip from the bottom, and used it to wrap up my ankle. Then I tried to get some sleep so I could drive later.<br>After about ten hours, I woke up. I looked at Zach, and even though he didn't look like it, I knew he was exhausted.  
>"Pull over in that rest area over there."<br>He looked at me, startled. "I thought you were asleep."  
>Obviously, he a lot more tired than I had thought if he hadn't noticed I'd woken up.<br>"Just pull over."  
>We stopped a few minutes later.<br>"Alright, let me see it." Zach said.  
>"What?" I asked, genuinely confused.<br>"Your ankle, Gallagher Girl. Let me see."  
>I turned so that my ankle was on his lap. He poked and prodded it, twisting it and checking the movement. I gritted my teeth, but my ankle didn't hurt as much as the last time I had hurt it.<br>"Not as bad as last time you broke it. It's only a sprain, I think. And you actually wrapped it decently, Cams." He smirked.  
>"Good." I answered. "Then I'll be right back."<br>I headed to the washroom, testing out my ankle by putting some weight on it as I walked. It would be fine to drive, I decided, especially since it was the left one.  
>When I got back, I opened the door to the driver's side.<br>"Get out." I ordered. "You need to sleep."  
>"And let you drive?" Zach answered with a smirk. "I don't think so."<br>"Oh, shut up. I can drive." I grumbled.  
>My point was slightly disproven when I had to grab onto the car door to keep myself from falling- a person can only stand on one leg for so long.<br>Zach chuckled, but got out of the car anyway, walking over to the passenger's side.  
>As I drove out of the rest stop and pulled onto the highway, Zach leaned against the door and closed his eyes. I smiled- I was right about him being tired. <p>


	11. Chapter 11

I had been driving for about four hours without a problem when I noticed a car I had seen before driving right behind me. I changed lanes abruptly, but the car behind me followed. I slowed down, and the car adjusted its speed to match mine.  
>"Fuck." I muttered. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck."<br>I changed lanes again, going through three lanes, but yet again, the car followed.  
>"Fuck." I groaned through clenched teeth.<br>"Zach," I whispered, tapping his shoulder lightly while still concentrating on the road. He didn't respond.  
>"Zach!" I whispered more urgently this time, jabbing him in the shoulder.<br>"What?" He answered, fully awake and alert. "What's wrong, Cam?"  
>"There's a car on my tail." I informed him, keeping my eyes on the road, clutching the steering wheel with all I had.<br>"We need to get off the highway, change cars and switch directions." Zach said, peering into the mirror at the car behind me.  
>"How?"<br>"You need to do it quickly. Can you?" Zach asked, studying me.  
>I looked directly at Zach. I opened the part of my memories that I always pushed away- the time I was looking for the Circle. I remembered being in a situation like this before, and coming out successful. I could lose the tail.<br>"Gallagher Girl?" Zach shook my shoulder. He looked worried. "You seemed...far away."  
>"I shook my head. "I'm fine. I can lose them."<br>Zach nodded. "You have half a mile until the exit."  
>I shifted my concentration to the road. The car was close on my tail. I saw my opportunity and seized it. I swerved through four lanes of traffic, receiving many honks as I did so. But I didn't stop. I passed a truck in front of me and took the exit on the right. As I did so, I made sure I wasn't followed.<br>I slowed as the exit took me onto the main road of a tiny town. I spotted a gas station up ahead.  
>"Gas station?" Zach and I spoke at the same time. We both laughed. I quickly sobered up though, thinking of what we were about to do.<br>We pulled into the station. I did a quick sweep. "No cameras." I muttered. The town wasn't nearly big enough to be worried about thieves.  
>There was only one other car filling up- a rusty old pick up truck. We waited until he went inside go pay, checked that we weren't seen, and then I darted into his truck and drove it on the road, while Zach drove our car into the place of the truck we had just stolen, leaving the keys in the ignition. At least the man would have a new shiny car in place of his old one.<br>I pulled over on the side of the road, waiting for Zach. A few seconds later, he opened the door and sat down.  
>"You want me to drive, Cams?"<br>"Yes, please." I mumbled gratefully.  
>Zach smirked as I climbed over him and he slid over to the driver's seat.<br>He started driving down the narrow road, making frequent turns to throw off anyone trying to follow us.  
>The pick up only had one huge seat in the front, so I stretched out my legs and rested my hurt ankle on Zach's leg.<br>We drove in silence for what I knew was exactly three hours, twenty-seven minutes and fifty-six seconds until it was pitch black out, and the only light came from other cars.  
>"We should stop for the night," Zach suggested, breaking the silence.<br>"Okay." I agreed.  
>He pulled into an exit shortly after, leaving the highway. He drove for a while until we came up to a small, run-down hotel. Our pick up fit right into the atmosphere. The hotel was four stories tall, the paint was chipping away, and there were only five cars in the gravel covered parking lot.<br>I opened the car door and whispered over my shoulder to Zach, "Well, you sure know how to impress a woman, Zach. This place is totally upscale, high-class and-" I tripped and started to fall, interrupting my sarcastic comment.  
>Zach, who had come around to my side of the truck without me realizing it, put his hands around my waist, steadying me.<br>"Watch where you're going before you start mocking me, Gallagher Girl."  
>"Shut up," I said, angry at myself for being so dependent on him, "I can walk by myself. I'm totally capable."<br>I slipped away from him, ignoring his smirk, and walked inside to check in. Zach beat me there, of course, and asked the old man who was alone behind an ancient looking computer for a room for the night.  
>"Let's see," he muttered, squinting at his computer screen, "How about room 403? Fourth floor? One bed?"<br>Zach nodded. "That'll be fine," he said, paying the man.  
>The man handed Zach a card, and as we turned around he added, "By the way, the elevator's broken. The stairs are on the right."<br>I gritted my teeth. I could feel Zach looking at me, no doubt with a smirk on his face, but I refused to accept his help, especially if was making fun of me. I walked to the stairs and stopped.  
>"Come on, Gallagher Girl. You can't go up four flights of stairs. Be realistic." Zach pleaded with me. I ignored him, grabbed onto the railing, and started hopping up the stairs one my good leg, one stair at a time. Zach matched my pace, walking next to me slowly. I got to the landing in between the first and second floor and sat down.<br>"I don't know about you, Gallagher Girl, but I don't want to sit in a dirty stair well all night. Come on."  
>I sighed, surrendering as Zach pulled me to my feet and boosted me up on his back, giving me a piggy back ride up the stairs.<p>

"You didn't have to go through the trouble, Zach. I could have walked up by myself." I told him, trying to re-establish the fact that I was totally capable of taking care of myself. I didn't want him to think I was weak all the time.

"You're right," Zach answered seriously. "I just let you walk the rest of the way." He leaned back, about to dump me off his back.

"No!" I shrieked, clutching onto his neck. It only took me a second to realize I wasn't falling down the stairs, and I was still safely on his back.

Zach was laughing. "Come on, Gallagher Girl. Have a little faith!"

"Jackass," I muttered under my breath.

He was still laughing slightly as we got to the room and he opened the door. As soon as we were inside, I slid off him and sat down on the bed. The room was dated, to put it nicely. There was no TV in the room, just a bed, a nightstand, an armchair in the corner and a closet next to the tiny bathroom. The carpet was a plush material and had a startling bright red color that totally clashed with everything else in the room.

"I'll be right back," Zach said. "I'm going to get you some ice for that ankle."

"Oh, okay," I answered, surprised at how quickly Zach made the switch from funny to serious.

When he was gone, I took off my ripped sweater and dirty shirt, and put on his old Blackthorne hoodie that he had left behind, thankfully. It was so warm and comfy and it always smelled like him, even though I'd been wearing it more than he had lately. I loved it, even though it was way too big. I pulled my hair out of what used to be a ponytail and was now a terrible mess, and finger combed it into a high bun. I didn't want to jostle my ankle around by changing out my leggings, so I left them on.

By the time I had finished all that, Zach came back into the room. He was holding a bag of ice and a white plastic bag.

"What's in the bag?" I asked, as walked towards me.

"Dinner," he answered. And then, with a smirk, he added, "And chocolate."

I jumped up and kissed him. It was so fast that I managed to surprise him, and it was over before had a chance to do anything.

I reached into the bag and pulled out the chocolate he had bought. There were two Mars bars- my favourite.

"Oh my god, I love you!" I exclaimed while peeling off the wrapper of the Mars bar.

Zach threw back his head and laughed. "I thought I was a jackass."

"You still are. But you're a jackass who brought chocolate." I winked, taking a bite of the Mars bar.

"So am I forgiven?" He asked, grinning.

I put the chocolate down, threw my hands around his neck, pressed myself against him and kissed him slowly, relishing the moment. He stepped into me, putting his arms around my waist and kissing me back softly and sweetly. We broke away at the same time, both smiling.

I sighed with happiness and rested my head against his chest. He held me close, tracing circles on my back with his hand.

"Cam," Zach whispered in my ear.

"What is it?" I whispered back.

"The ice is going to melt soon if you don't use it."

I pulled away from Zach reluctantly, grabbed the bag of ice and sat on the bed, icing my ankle.

"Better?" Zach asked.

I nodded. I unwrapped my makeshift bandage from my ankle, letting the ice sit directly on my skin. It felt a million times better with the ice- I could feel the swelling start to go down a little bit.

"You didn't happen to buy any gauze, did you?" I asked hopefully.

"I did. Want me to wrap up your ankle?"

"Please."

Zach sat next to me on the bed, pulled my ankle on his lap gently and ran his hands up and down it, finding the places where it hurt the most. He touched one of the worst spots lightly.

"I can wrap it really tightly if you want, so you'll be able to stand longer in the morning, but it'll hurt now."

"It's fine, just do it."

Zach opened the package of gauze and started wrapping it around my ankle. He was right about it hurting, but I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the pain.

His fingers moved so expertly and quickly, and he was doing his best to make it less painful.

"Hey Zach?"

"What, Gallagher Girl?" He answered, keeping his concentration on my ankle.

"How are you so good at this?"

"I've done it a lot before."

"When?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"At Blackthorne, they taught us how to do it ourselves because so many people ended up hurting themselves that they didn't have enough people to deal with it."

"Seriously? What were you doing that so many people sprained their ankles?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Gallagher Girl."

I sighed, giving up. I was too tired to argue with him. He finished with my ankle, offered me some painkillers, and I swallowed them thankfully. I leaned back against the headboard, but kept my foot on Zach's lap.

"Zach," I whispered, "What are we going to do?"

"We have to decide who we can trust." He answered grimly.

"We just need one person to tell. One person who'll hide us, and help us get the news out about the Director and his organization when it's the right time."

"Joe." We spoke in unison.

"That means we'll need to get into Gallagher unnoticed."

"That won't be a problem." I smiled mischievously at Zach.

"We'll leave in the morning. Now we need some sleep." Zach said as he gently lifted my ankle off his lap, put a pillow under it instead, and came to sit next to me.

I couldn't get to sleep. There was too much going on in my head. Even though we had successfully escaped, we hadn't gotten rid of them. And we still knew almost nothing about their motives, or what they planned to do next. I bit my lip and tapped my fingers impatiently. One of the worst things for a spy is when you don't know something. Believe me. I knew 14 languages, how to kill a man in countless different ways, and how to lie perfectly to anyone, but I didn't know why I was being targeted again.

Zach grabbed my hand. "Stop that, you're driving me insane."

I signed, and folded my hands together to stop my fingers from tapping. I slid under the covers and lay there quietly, waiting for the morning to come.


	12. Chapter 12

Just after 10AM, when I had slept a total of 20 minutes for the six hours we had been in the hotel, I turned over and looked at Zach. He wasn't sleeping either.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" I said jokingly, and winked.

Zach rolled his eyes. "I didn't sleep at all. This was a stupid idea."

"I know."

I sighed and got up, changed, washed up, and put everything back in my bag. The hotel had really been a waste of time. I was sure part of the reason Zach suggested stopping was because of my ankle. But now we really had to leave. The longer we stayed in one place, the easier it was for them to find us. I sat on the bed and waited for Zach, and the minute he was ready, we left.

Going down the stairs was considerably easier than going up them, so I passed my bag to Zach, and, grabbing the railings on both sides of the stairs, swung myself down the entire flight and lowered myself to the ground gently at the bottom. Zach just looked at me, and then shook his head, as if he knew that it was to be expected of me.

I had perfected my way of getting around injured last time I broke my ankle, and I was pretty used to it. When you've been injured as many times as I have, you have to be a little creative.

When we got to the lobby, Zach checked out and I went to the truck. He joined me a minute later and unlocked the doors. I climbed into the passenger side, knowing Zach wouldn't let me drive until he absolutely had to.

"Seven hours, Zach. That's if you take a direct route."

"That's not too long."

I shrugged. I guess it wasn't, compared to the 17 hours we did yesterday.

The drive was better than it had been yesterday. We sat in silence for the two hours or so, until we came into a small town and stopped to drive through a Starbucks.

I sipped my newly ordered coffee happily as we pulled away, and looked up at Zach.

"You know, we can't just show up." I stated the obvious, hoping to start a conversation.

"Well, that just ruined my 'drop in and surprise everyone plan'. What are we going to do now? Sneak in? What do you take me for? A spy?" Zach replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, but ignored his comment. "What I meant was, we should probably not even go to the school at all."

"Well, that's kind of where I was driving..."

"We need to go to the cabin." I realized suddenly. It made perfect sense. After all, the person we were looking for was Joe. And I had been to the cabin enough times that I figured he wouldn't be mad.

"Good idea." Zach agreed.

I stretched my feet out on the dash and put in my earphones to listen to music.

The drive went by surprisingly quickly. We didn't talk much, since there wasn't much to say. It seemed almost laughable to make small talk. In fact, come to think of it, Zach and I had never been ones to make small talk. We usually ran into each other during life threatening situations.

So when we got to the road near the cabin and Zach pulled over and parked the truck, I looked up in surprise. The memories from the place came flooding back, and I leaned against the truck for a few seconds just looking and reminiscing.

Zach came around the car and stood next to me. He reached for my hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Well. We're here, I guess." I whispered.

"I guess." Zach echoed.

I shook off the feeling of nostalgia and smiled. "Well, shall we go in?"

Zach nodded, grabbed our bags and put his free hand around my waist. We walked like that down the hill until we came to the trip wires, when I let go of him so I could balance better.

I made it down the hill slower than I would have liked to, but Zach waited for me as I went down.

When we got into the cabin, I sank into the couch gratefully, letting out a sigh. I allowed myself thirty seconds of rest, and then I got up and helped Zach with the bags. I threw mine over my shoulder and took it to the bedroom while Zach, who had already dumped his bag, fixed himself something to eat. I stood alone in the bedroom for a while, allowing memories to flood back. Zach came into the room a few minutes later and stood just behind me. I leaned into him and he put his arms around me.

He rested his chin on the top of my head and drew me against his chest. I put my hands on top of his and we stood comfortably together. I could feel his chest moving slightly each time he took in a breath.

I turned around slowly so that I was facing him, and I kissed him quickly.

"I'm going outside." I murmured when I broke away.

Zach studied me briefly, and then nodded. He understood. He didn't need to tell me to be careful. He knew I would be.

So I left the room and, slipping on the closest shoes- Zach's Toms, which were much too big for me-, I stepped out the door.

The night air was chilling, and goose-bumps started to appear on my bare arms, but it felt nice, almost refreshing. I stumbled down the hill in Zach too big shoes until I got to the lake.

I sat down on the dock and, careful not to lose Zach's shoes, let my feet dangle off it. I stared off into the darkness, to the spot on the horizon where I saw the lake end. I thought about the discs at the bottom of my bag that I had retrieved from the warehouse. I wasn't exactly sure why I hadn't told Zach about them. Maybe I didn't want to worry him. Or maybe I felt like if I looked at them the information I might find would just be too much to handle. Not that I didn't trust Zach. I just didn't want to get him involved, to put him in danger. I always felt inclined to deal with things on my own. It worked better when no one else got hurt.  
>A cool gust of wind made me shiver and pull my knees to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I realized Zach was walking down the hill behind me when I heard a leaf crunch about two feet away.<br>"You almost had me." I joked when he came and sat next to me.  
>"I wanted that leaf to crunch. Otherwise, I would had scared you with my super spy stealthiness." He smirked at me.<br>I rolled my eyes. "Of course. I would have been terrified. How considerate of you."  
>He chuckled and wrapped an arm around me, his body heat instantly warming me up.<br>"You know, Gallagher girl, I'm starting to think you have an aversion to all your own clothes." He said, glancing down at my-his- shoes.  
>I leaned into him and whispered: "Oh, shush."<br>Zach laughed, and played with my hair.  
>I sighed. Why couldn't things always be this easy?<br>Zach's hand squeezed my shoulder reassuringly as if he knew what I was feeling.  
>We sat silently for a long time, just staring out at the lake.<br>Eventually, I lifted my head from his shoulder and started to get up. Unfortunately, my right foot had fallen asleep, and my sprained ankle wasn't help in terms of support. So when I stood up, I toppled over, and almost fell into the lake. Zach, who had also gotten up, reached out and grabbed my arm, stopping me from taking a midnight swim. However, he had only gotten hold of my finger tips, and I had so much momentum that I fell into the lake anyway. I shrieked as I hit the water, because although it wasn't winter, the lake was still freezing cold. I sunk for a bit, but then I pushed myself to the surface, only to see Zach laughing his ass off on the dock. He hadn't seen me come up, so I took a breath and dove under again, searching for the shoes that had fallen off when I fell in. Luckily, they weren't too far from where I fell in, so I found them quickly. I picked them up, and as I got closer to the surface, I heard Zach calling my name worriedly. I came to the surface, and he immediately smiled.  
>"Got your shoes."<br>He laughed, and lay on his stomach on the dock so he could grab them and help me out.  
>Once I was on the dock again, dripping wet, I grinned at him mischievously.<br>He just realized what I was about to do when I did it. I jumped into his arms, succeeding in getting him completely wet and cold. He had no choice but to grab onto me, and he held me for a while before setting me down. When he unwrapped his arms, I started to shiver and I realized how cold I actually was. Teeth shattering, I hugged him again, this time just to get warm. Even though it was probably awful for him, he held me tightly and rubbed his hands up and down my arms to warm me up. I pressed my face into his chest and tried to stop shaking.  
>"Gallagher Girl, let's go inside." Zach said, pulling away from me.<br>I nodded in agreement and, slipping on his shoes, started to trudge up the hill beside him. Even though his arm was around me the whole time, I was still freezing cold.  
>As soon as we got in the house, I went into the bathroom, stripped my clothes and stepped into a hot shower. Oh my god, did it feel amazing. After 15 minutes, I got out reluctantly and wrapped myself in a towel. I got changed in the bedroom. I was just grabbing Zach's Blackthorne hoodie when I heard Zach say "Gallagher Girl..."<br>His tone worried me a little. It was like he was warning me of something.  
>I walked into the living room calmly, pulling on the hoodie as I went.<br>I stood next to Zach at the window and looked up at him inquisitively. He nodded towards the road, so I looked up and saw a figure getting out of a small blue car. I tensed, an Zach put his hand on my back.  
>"I think it's Joe." He said.<br>I squinted at the figure coming down the hill. It did indeed look like Joe.  
>"Does he know we're here?"<br>"I doubt it." Zach answered. "But soon he'll know someone's here; the lights are on."  
>"Should we go out there and meet him?"<br>"You're not climbing up that hill again, Gallagher Girl."  
>"Fine. Then what?"<br>"Turn off the lights?"  
>"No, then he'll think we're hiding. Let's sit and wait for him to come in. If he sees we're not hiding he'll know we're friendly?"<br>"Makes sense." Zach agreed.  
>So we sat and waited. A few seconds later, Joe burst through the door, shaking his head and saying "Only you two would be so stupid-"<br>He stopped himself and took a good look at us. Zach had stood up when Joe walked in the door, and he was smiling, looking the happiest I had seen him recently.  
>I was still sitting on the couch since getting up was a bit harder for me, but I was grinning like crazy.<br>I started to get up, and Zach offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet.  
>Joe stared at my left foot.<br>"Not again?"  
>"I'm fine."<br>Joe looked at Zach as if for confirmation, and Zach rolled his eyes.  
>"You know how she is." He said in reply to Joe's silent question.<br>I rolled my eyes and nudged Zach with my shoulder.  
>"It's good to see you, Joe." I smiled, and<br>Joe pulled me into a quick hug. "Rachel worries about you, Cam." he whispered in my ear.  
>I pulled back, frowning. "She shouldn't worry."<br>"Looking at the state the two of you are in, I would say she had plenty reason to worry." Joe furrowed his eyebrows.  
>Zach and I both started to protest, but Joe silenced us. "Have a seat." He ordered us more than offered.<br>I sank down into the couch gratefully, and Zach next to me. Joe, however, leaned on the back of the chair and did not sit.  
>"Well then. Would you two care to explain yourselves? Why are you here when you are supposed to be on a mission together?"<br>I looked at Zach and found myself at a loss for words.  
>"It's your story to tell, Gallagher Girl."<br>"Hardly." I scoffed.  
>"Come on."<br>"But,"  
>"Cammie." He said, his tone serious.<br>"Zach." I mimicked his tone.  
>Zach rolled his eyes and turned to Joe.<br>"She was being followed and attacked by different men before the mission even started. And she didn't tell me about it until they attacked her again in my building when she was meeting me at the start of our mission."  
>Joe ran his hands through his hair, clearly upset. "Cameron. Ann. Morgan." his whisper was deadly.<br>I looked at my hands.  
>"How long had they been following you?" He asked, his voice strained with anger.<br>"Six months." I whispered.  
>Joe exhaled angrily and looked at me.<br>"I was FINE." I protested.  
>"I'm sure you were. But you certainly aren't now."<br>I started to protest but Zach squeezed my hand. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised.  
>"Just keep going, Gallagher Girl." Zach whispered.<br>And I did. I told Joe everything we knew, from learning that our mission was a fake, to finding out the true identity of the Director, to finally coming face to face with them and escaping. I explained how I sprained my ankle, and Zach told him the way we drove to get here.  
>"And so, we were hoping, maybe, that we could borrow your cabin, and you could help us?" I finished with a question.<br>Joe's face was blank. "You two can stay here for now. It's safe enough. But we'll have to talk to Rachel or even some people over at MI6 if we want this thing solved."  
>"I don't think we need to get my mother involved."<br>Zach looked at me, stunned. "Gallagher Girl..."  
>Joe looked at me deadpan. "Cammie. Please be realistic here."<br>"We. Are. Not. Getting. Her. Involved." I said through clenched teeth.  
>I wasn't going to make my mother worry any more than she had to. Only a year ago and a half ago, the circle had been chasing me, and I had run away, causing her worry that I wasn't proud of. As far as I was concerned, she didn't need another thing to worry about. I didn't want to be a burden.<br>"Cameron."  
>I looked at Zach, startled. He had never called me by my full name. Ever.<br>"Zachary." I responded, as serious as he was.  
>Zach looked straight into my eyes, more serious than I had seen him in a long time.<br>"Gallagher Girl. You're not a burden to anyone. You need to know that."  
>Wait, how did he know I was thinking that?<br>"But-"  
>"Don't you trust me?"<br>"Yes." I said immediately.  
>If Zach was surprised at how quickly and honestly I responded, he didn't show it.<br>"Then listen to me! I know you want to fix this with as few people as possible, but that won't work. When you were gone-"  
>"Don't." I whispered. I didn't want to hear him talk about the worst part of my life.<br>"When you were gone," he continued as if I hadn't said anything, "we had as many people as we could looking for you without letting the CIA or MI6 know you were gone. It makes sense to get help from the same people now."  
>I sighed in defeat. "My mom, the Baxters and Joe. That's all Zach. And no. We are not telling Bex, Liz, or Macey. They have missions of their own to worry about and I'm not telling them this to mess them up."<br>Zach realized that was the best he would get from me, so he nodded.  
>It was about three in the morning at that point, and I could barely keep my eyes open, so I got up to make myself a cup of coffee. I searched through the cupboards, but all I could find was decaf. While I put on a pot of that, I went into the bathroom to wash out my bloody shirt and hang it to dry. By the time I finished, the coffee was ready. I poured myself some in a mug and went back to the couch. Zach eyed my mug eagerly and after I drank a bit I laughed and passed him the mug.<br>"It's decaf," I informed him, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but drank some anyway.  
>I pulled my ankle onto the couch so that I could unwrap then redo the tape.<br>Zach got up and left. I paid no attention to him, until I noticed he was coming back with more tape. He sat down, pulling my foot into his lap, and started to re tape my ankle. I relaxed and leaned back into the couch, letting Zach do his thing.  
>"Thanks." I mumbled.<br>Zach looked at me and simply smirked.  
>"Yeah, because it's so hard for me to this. Honestly, Gallagher Girl. You have no idea." He whispered sarcastically.<br>I rolled my eyes at him.  
>The room was silent for a long time, and all your could hear were the small noises of the tape being wrapped around my ankle.<br>After a while, Joe walked over to the computer in the corner of the room and started working on it.  
>When Zach finished with my ankle, I pulled my foot away and curled up against the corner of the couch, tucking my right leg under me and stretching out my left one towards Zach.<br>I didn't notice when I closed my eyes, but about 30 minutes later, I felt the room get darker around me. I opened my eyes a little and saw Zach totally asleep next to me, his arm draped on the top of the couch, just above my shoulders.  
>Joe had left when the light was turned off, I guess, so I turned over and leaned against Zach, curling into a ball with my head on his chest. I shivered a little, and his arm almost immediately came around me, leaving me to question if he was really asleep.<br>I closed my eyes and relaxed against him.  
>"Zach!" I whispered in his ear, opening my eyes.<br>"Mmmm?" He groaned.  
>"Where's Joe?"<br>"In the bedroom." He muttered, half asleep.  
>I smiled and kissed him softly. Zach opened his eyes and kissed me back.<br>I pulled away and whispered "This isn't going to work."  
>Zach looked at me, sleepy and confused.<br>I smiled. "I meant sleeping on the couch. It's too small for both of us."  
>Zach stretched out so he was lying on the couch and pulled me on top of him.<br>"Remind you of something?" He whispered, regaining his usual smirk.  
>"I'd rather not sleep as if I was in an un-collapsed collapsible bed on a train." I quipped.<br>I got off Zach and curled up in the arm chair across the room.  
>Zach was almost asleep again, but he still winked and smirked at me. I smiled and turned away, finally falling asleep.<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

I woke up three hours later to the smallest sound of a door being opened. It was so quiet I thought I might have dreamed it at first. When I got up, I saw Joe leaving. As quickly and quietly as I could without waking Zach, I slipped on some shoes and stopped Joe when he was halfway up the hill.  
>"Wait!" I whispered.<br>He turned around and smiled.  
>"I was going to come back tomorrow you know." He laughed slightly.<br>I shook my head, and pulled out the three hard drives I'd managed to pull out from the laptops in the warehouse without Zach knowing.  
>Joe's slight smile faded immediately.<br>"I thought you hadn't pulled anything from the warehouse...?"  
>"Obviously I lied. I need you to check them for me, to find out whatever you can. And call me when you do."<br>"Of course, Cammie. I'll call one of you when-"  
>"No!" I cut him off. "Zach can't know about this."<br>How furrowed his brow but nodded anyway. "Alright. I'll let you know." He said as he left.  
>"Thank you. And please, make sure Zach's doesn't find out about this!" I called to Joe who was already a almost at the top of the hill.<br>"Make sure Zach doesn't find out about what, Cammie?"  
>Zach's voice came from behind me.<br>"Shit." I muttered, turning around to face him.  
>Zach was angry. He hadn't heard the whole conversation, thank god, but he had heard enough to be upset with me.<br>"What's going on?" He demanded, his furious gaze focused on me.  
>I shook my head and turned away from him, starting to head back to the cabin.<br>Zach was too quick. He grabbed my arm and turned me around so I was facing him.  
>"Cammie. Tell me."<br>"It's not important." I lied.  
>"Clearly." Zach scoffed sarcastically.<br>"Oh, and like you've told me everything before!" I spat harshly.  
>"Come on Cammie. Don't be so juvenile. That wasn't about you."<br>"And this isn't about you, Zach." I lied as I yanked my arm away.  
>Zach stopped me again. "You know I don't believe you Cammie. You're a terrible liar."<br>"No I'm not!" I protested.  
>"Sorry, you're right. You just can't lie to me."<br>I glared at him and pulled away again. This time I managed to escape him, but he was faster and he stepped in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders.  
>"What happened to you telling me everything dangerous that happened to you? Didn't you say you would stop down playing things so I could help you?" Zach whispered.<br>"Oh come on. Don't make a big deal out of it."  
>"I won't if you would actually tell me what's happening for once!" He snapped.<br>"Fine." I said, defeated.  
>Zach was shocked. "Fine?" He asked incredulously.<br>I sighed. "Yes, fine. I don't want to fight with you anymore. Let's go inside."  
>Zach took his hands off my shoulders and I immediately felt ten times colder, but I make no indication of it and we walked inside silently.<br>Neither of us sat down when we came in. He stood against the wall beside the couch and I leaned over the arm chair across from him.  
>He just looked at me, waiting for me to start.<br>"It's not even that big of a deal. I just needed Joe to look at something for me and I didn't want to worry you in case what he found is bad."  
>"What are you talking about Cams?"<br>"I took the hard drives from the computers in the warehouse. There were three laptops in this hidden room and I took out the hard drives."  
>Zach's anger disappeared. "You should have told me."<br>"Sorry."  
>"So know we're waiting for Joe to find something?"<br>"Pretty much." I yawned in the middle of my sentence.  
>Zach yawned right after me and I laughed.<p>

"While Joe's looking at the hard drives for me, I want to try and find out things on our own."

Zach furrowed his brows. "I think it's best if we stay here."

"Since when is Zach Goode inclined for the safer option? Someone's getting old." I teased.

Zach rolled his eyes. "I'm not the one limping everywhere."

I gasped in mock outrage. "You take that back Zachary!'

"No." He smirked, taking the three steps needed to bring his arms around me.

I smiled and looked up at him. I saw him leaning in and, my eyes twinkling, turned my head quickly.

He raised an eyebrow and tried to kiss me again but I kept dodging him to annoy him. I slipped out of his grasp and walked away, swaying my hips and waiting. In four seconds he grabbed my arm and spun me into his arms, kissing me firmly. I smiled against his lips and laughed as we kissed. When we broke away, I grinned and said "Admit it, Zach."

He raised his hands in surrender and keeping a straight face except for his dancing green eyes, he said "Alright, alright. You don't limp, Gallagher Girl."

"That's right." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him again.

I felt him mumble something against my lips and I pulled away. "What was that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Clearly your hearing is off, Gallagher Girl. And you claim to be a spy!" He scoffed, mocking me.

"Zach," I said, my tone a warning.

"Cammie," He mimicked me.

"Fine, don't tell me." I pouted, sticking out my lips.

Zach chuckled and kissed me again and this time I could have sworn he whispered something that sounded a lot like "I love you".

"What?!" I exclaimed, pulling away.

"Shh, don't ruin it Gallagher Girl." Zach whispered against my lips, tightning the space between us.

I sighed against him and kissed him back, melting against him.

Zach pulled away too quickly for my liking and smirked at my wide eyes.

"Did you say-" I began.

"Don't play dumb with me. You know what I said, Cam."

I grinned and felt my face flush with heat. "I love you too."

Zach's eyes widened and for a second I thought he was actually surprised but I realized he was teasing me. "What? That's not what I said at all! Someone's clingy, Gallagher Girl." His eyes twinkled at me.

"Shut up Zach."

He chuckled softly and pulled on my hand. "Come on, you're practically falling over, you should get some sleep."

"Oh, like you weren't the one who yawned earlier."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zach claimed, yawning.

I rolled my eyes at him. He was still annoying as ever.

That night, sleeping in the cabin next to a boy I had just told I loved, I slept better than I had in days. I felt a sense of safety. I felt everything would be alright at lest for a while. Unfortunately, we were still knee-deep in a mystery that wouldn't be easily solved.


End file.
